All mail sent to the Tax Division office in Juneau through the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed to P.O. Box 110420, Juneau, AK 99811. Beginning Oct. 1, the Post Office will not deliver mail to the division’s Willoughby Avenue address, and the mail will be returned to the sender. In those cases, tax returns and payments may miss their filing deadline. This change does not affect the Anchorage Tax Division office.

Regional Seafood Development Tax2017 Annual Report

The seafood development tax is an elective tax levied on certain fishery resources using specific gear types sold in or exported from designated seafood development regions.

Fishermen pay seafood development taxes to licensed buyers at the time of sale or to the Department of Revenue’s Tax Division for resources sold to unlicensed buyers or exported from Alaska.

Buyers remit taxes collected from fishermen to the division.

Rate

Commercial fishermen harvesting salmon elected tax rates for the following development regions and gear types:

Region

Rate

Effective

Prince William Sound (Drift Gillnet)

1%

2005

Bristol Bay (Drift Gillnet)

1%

2006

Prince William Sound (Set Gillnet)

1%

2009

Returns

Buyers file returns and pay the tax monthly. The due date is the last day of the month following the month of purchase.

Buyers file returns for bonus payments made to fishermen after the close of the fishery season. Returns for these payments are due with additional taxes by the last day of the month following the bonus payment.

Fishermen selling to unlicensed buyers or exporting from Alaska file returns and pay taxes annually. The due date is March 31 following the year of sale or export.

Exemptions

Resources harvested under a special harvest area permit (typically, salmon harvested on behalf of salmon hatcheries) are exempt from the seafood development tax.

Disposition of Revenue

The Tax Division deposits all seafood development tax revenue into the General Fund. Under AS 43.76.380(d), the Alaska Legislature may appropriate seafood development tax revenue to provide financing for qualified regional seafood development associations.

History

2004 – The Legislature adopted the Seafood Development Tax Act. The act authorized a tax of between 0.5% and 2%, upon election by commercial fishermen harvesting within designated regions, on fishery resources transferred to buyers in or exported from Alaska.

2005 – Commercial salmon drift gillnet fishermen in the Prince William Sound seafood development region elected a 1% tax.